My Due Date Came...

October 28th finally arrived. My due date! And baby boy was still in my belly. I had my doctor’s appointment and I was still at a one. I was quite disappointed. So I made a game plan with my doctor. He allows women to go two weeks over their due date. Jason and I had a hard decision to make. On the one hand, I wanted to give myself as much time as possible to go into labor naturally so I wouldn’t have to have a repeat C-Section (since they can’t induce you on a VBAC). At the same time, how awful it would be to go two weeks over and still not go into labor and still have to have a C-Section. Luckily, I had been feeling pretty great considering I was 40 weeks pregnant. On the other hand, if we waited too long Nancy might be gone in Colorado, since Amy was due with her fourth baby any day. Her due date was November 11th, but it was very possible she could come early. I wanted baby boy to come before Nancy left...so do I wait two weeks with the possibility of her being gone, or do we schedule a C-Section for before she leaves. After discussing it with Jason, we decided we would meet in the middle. We would allow for a week overdue before having a C-Section. Jason said Wednesday the 5th would probably be best for work. When I discussed this with the doctor he said that sounded good. The hospital was already booked for the 5th, however, so we scheduled it for Thursday the 6th (with the possibility of bumping it up to the 5th if something opened up). So I continued my curb-walking (an exercise that one of my new neighbors swore by to help induce labor), and any other thing I could think of to help kick-start this baby.

40 weeks

As is procedural for an overdue baby for that office, they had another nonstress test ordered for that day. I had to return two days later (Halloween) because I had only marginaly passed. I passed well the second time. These times I was smart and enlisted Nancy to take care of Charlie while I did them. One day she took him to the park and he shockingly did a great job going down the slides! For some reason, Charlie has been afraid of slides and swings. During the second appointment, she took him to the Museum of Natural Curiosity. Such a cool place! We met up for lunch afterwards at Carl’s Jr.

That night, it was Halloween. Luckily, I had found a costume for Charlie earlier that week. It was hard to find one in his size that wasn’t a super hero costume. He sure made the cutest Mickey Mouse! George and Nancy came by to see Charlie so we fed them dinner and then went trick-or-treating in our cul de sac. They left, and we stuck around for a little bit to answer for trick-or-treaters (we didn’t get nearly as many as we had anticipated, so we had tons of left over candy) before heading to Draper to visit my parents. We enjoyed some goodies and then our parents had a surprise visit from Paul, Mandy, and Lily. It was fun to visit with them for a bit. All in all, it was a fun and busy Halloween. Even though I was sad that baby boy was not here yet, I was glad to spend that Halloween with Charlie and to be able to go trick-or-treating with him. It sure was cute.

Halloween pajamas from Grandma Arbon

On Sunday, the fetal movement seemed low. It was really concerning me. I know that babies generally move less the further along you get, but his movements seemed very few and quite weak. Even when I would poke and encourage him to move, he would barely respond. I knew it would cost us, but I had to make the wise parenting decision, and so I went to the hospital to have another non-stress test done. Luckily, I passed. Baby boy was pretty sleeply and unresponsive at first, but after using the baby buzzer, he moved really well for us. It was nice to have that reassurance that everything was okay.  

On Tuesday (November 4th), I had my 41 week appointment. I was measuring at a two, but my belly measurement was still pretty small so they had me do an ultrasound. After measuring the baby, they found that he was measuring in  the 10th percentile. Because he was so small, they wouldn’t allow me to go passed Thursday. (While talking with my doctor before the ultrasound, we were debating again whether or not to let me go two weeks over, rather than keep the scheduled C-Section for Thursday. He was going to be out of town for the weekend so if we didn’t do it Thursday, he could do it Monday. However, after seeing how small the baby was, the doctor said it wouldn’t be safe to wait that long. I didn’t feel too alarmed about the baby’s size, but the nurse giving me the ultrasound results acted as if she was giving me really bad news. So, perhaps it was a bigger deal than I thought it was. I guess you never know, though. Better to be safe than sorry.)

That night I met up with Bryton and Jaleah to celebrate Bryton’s 28th birthday. We met at JCW’s for milkshakes and fries. My perfect kind of dessert! So tasty! I did have a couple of hard contractions on the way there and on the way back. But with just two days to go, and feeling pretty good, I didn’t have much hope of going into labor.

Wednesday morning (November 5th), I was back at the doctor’s office for another non-stress test. The results were typical….baby boy was sleepy and needed some buzzer encouragement, but his movement and heart rate looked good after that. I felt slightly encouraged that the day before I lost some of my plug and that night I had some strong contractions...but the nurse and I concluded that it was just too little too late. All that was left now was to hear from the hospital with my scheduled time for my C-Section.

October

What do you know, I had another doctor’s appointment. My due date was October 28th, so I was entering the end zone. At this appointment, I still had high protein levels, so I had to do another 24 hour collection and blood work. They wanted me to do a nonstress test over at the hospital right then...I had never done one, so I foolishly brought Charlie with me. As soon as they had me all hooked up and started monitoring me, I started getting nervous. You never know how well a two year old is going to behave in a room with nothing to do. I was really nervous when she told me it could take an hour while we waited for my blood work to be done (while being strapped up to a machine, not able to move). Thank goodness I brought the iPad because it took an hour and a half! Everything looked good, again, it was just the high protein. They decided that was something that should be checked after the baby is born. That was a relief since I was getting tired of the 24 hour collection with the same result. Yes, I know my levels are high...get over it.

The nonstress test was especially “stressful” because that was the day we were moving out and I had lots to do to get ready for that! It was October 2nd (Thursday), and we were blessed with lots of family and friends to help us that night (with even more making offers to help). We were able to get it all done within a matter of 3.5 hours! That includes loading trucks, traveling, unloading, and a pizza dinner on us. We were amazed how quickly it got done! Organized packing done ahead of time is definitely worth the effort!

That Saturday we spent the day cleaning our old apartment, moving in, and searching for a fridge. We wanted a side-by-side fridge, but there just wasn’t space for it in the new kitchen. So we actually ended up with the same fridge we had at our old apartment (much to Jason’s dismay). We were just glad, however, to have finally found one at a good price and to have it all done. That is also thanks to Uncle Alan, who sent us a generous check as a house-warming gift to go towards a new fridge!

Obviously we spent a HUGE amount of time in October moving in! Moving is such a pain! But it was also exciting getting to start over again and to organize everything just right and how we wanted it. 

The kitchen finally organized

Lots to do...

Taking care of our own yard

Charlie loved chasing, and being chased by, the lawn mower

Painting the master bedroom - green to gray

Still in progress...

Painted the nursery - purple to gray and blue accent wall

Painting the dressers

Adding cabinets

...painted white...

...and then antiqued and stained.

When we weren’t unpacking or organizing, this is what we were up to:

We had dinner with my family to celebrate my Dad’s birthday.

Jason’s cousins, Daniel and Allison, were in town, and so Jason went fishing with Daniel, Max, Geno, and Khirstin.

The week after moving in, Kylie threw me a baby shower! She is so extremely nice! She was the one who also threw me a baby shower for Charlie (this was just months after moving into the ward). So here she was again, throwing me another one! So nice! And even after moving away! It was really nice to celebrate the upcoming baby and also to be able to say some more goodbyes to the ladies in the ward.

We were able to meet all the neighbors in our cul de sac, and we feel so blessed! Everyone is really nice and we definitely feel welcome. There are five houses, four that have a similar house plan and appearance, just different colors. Two of the families have one or two teenagers still at home, one is an empty-nester family, and one is an older, single man. We can’t wait to get to know them more personally! One funny note, they all have dogs! Charlie LOVES dogs….from a far, but is still kind of scared up close. He gets to laughing hysterically and climbing all over me. I’m excited to see him get more comfortable with them the more he sees them.

We were also really anxious to meet the ward. Our first weekend there was General Conference, so we had to patiently wait until the next week to meet the ward. It is always a little weird at first entering a new ward, but we can tell that it is a really good one filled with great people. Again, everyone was very nice.

Just days after moving in, we had a knock at the door. A young mom (Shannon) and her 19-month-old son (Phoenix) were there to greet us. They had been friends with the mom and girl who lived here before us, and they were excited to meet the new family. It was so nice of them to stop by. She even invited us to her weekly playgroup. We hadn’t even been there a week, and I was already connected with a nice group of friends. I was thrilled! That was so nice of Shannon to welcome me in like that.

We continued our annual paintballing tradition! Here it is in the words of Jason:

“This years paint balling trip was great.  We had a really good turnout, and went to the same place up Hobble Creek Canyon.  This year, it was organized by Marc, so that made it a lot easier for me...just show up and play.  Since Emily was pregnant she didn't come this time.  

We had around 20 people at our peak.  We had a few more friends show up, rather than "just" family, but it turned out great, and everyone was nice and fun to play with.  We switched up teams quite a bit, and played: Civil war, steal the flag, defend the base, and also a game where we paired up, and so there was essentially 8 or 9 teams.  

Every time we go it seems like people have a lot of fun and with the big group we get great deals on the rental gear.  I had a particular fun game, where we were attacking a fortified base.  Myself, and two others crept along the very steep almost vertical river bank to stay out of eyesight from those in the base.  When we got to the point along the bank that would put us closest to the bank, we slowly peaked our heads over the bank.  I saw Paul and Dan in clear sight, without them even looking in our direction.  Paintballs are not very accurate, and the shot was probably 25 to 30 yards. I planned to shoot off a lot to make sure to get them, but I shot only one and it nailed Dan right on the side of the head.  He was completely caught off guard, and didn't know where it came from.  Right after, I nailed Paul right on the back, towards the side...the tender spot.  It was amazing...seal team 6 style.  

The trip was great, and can't wait for the next year!”

Sadly, no pictures from paintballing.

While Jason was gone paintballing (along with Bryan and my dad), my mom invited me, Charlie, and Camry to come stay. First we headed to a pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins. Of course Charlie would pick out the ugliest, wartiest pumpkin. My mom then treated us to dinner at Freebirds and dessert at Rita’s. I never been to either place, and new ones opened up near Scheel’s near 114th. Everything was delicious...I will definitely be returning with Jason. I love the Itialian Ice at Rita’s! Such great flavor and a unique taste. I was happy to find out that there are at least two in Utah County. After getting home and putting Charlie to bed, we watched a movie until we fell asleep. It was a fun weekend!

At my next doctor’s appointment, my protein levels were still high, but my blood pressure looked good so we left it at that. Thank you! When they measured my belly, I was still measuring small...about two weeks behind. When they checked my progression, I was at a one. I wasn’t surprised.

We went on a “field trip” with our Pleasant Grove friends. The moms and the kids had a good time walking around, looking at the shops, and seeing all of the Halloween witches everywhere. Unfortunately, it was pretty nasty weather for a good part of the time. Lots of heavy rain on and off. We enjoyed lunch at the little bakery there and enjoyed some hot soup.

One Saturday we had a pretty busy day. We went to Jason’s grandma’s house to celebrate her birthday. Aunt Jean always makes the most delicious cakes and desserts. It was fun to visit with them. Next on the list was our ward’s Harvest Party. I was glad it wasn’t a full blown Halloween party because I wasn’t prepared with costumes yet. I kept putting off getting costumes because I didn’t know if I would be around for Halloween or not. In my mind, the baby was supposed to come first, and then I would worry about Halloween. We had a good time getting to know more people from the ward and sharing our tasty BBQ Chili for the potluck dinner. After the ward party, we headed to Salt Lake to attend a wedding reception for Nate Stallings (Amy’s older brother).

Other random pics:

Baby bump pics - 39 weeks

Breaking in the new stairs with the car tracks

Our neighbors to the back have some delicious grapes growing over our fence...and Charlie loved to pick them, take a bite, then drop them in a sticky pile all over his shoes.